200 years after battle, some hard feelings remain
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/world/europe/200-years-after-battle-some-hard-feelings-remain.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A15%22%7D#h[]
http://club.topsage.com/thread-3759518-1-1.html
WATERLOO,Belgium — The region around this Belgian city is busily preparing tocommemorate the 200th anniversary in 2015 of one of the major battles inEuropean military history. But weaving a path through the preparations isproving almost as tricky as making one’s way across the battlefield was backthen, when the Duke of Wellington, as commander of an international alliance offorces, crushed Napoleon.
A rambling though dilapidated farmstead called Hougoumont, which was crucial to thebattle’s outcome, is being painstakingly restored as an educational center.Nearby, an underground visitor center is under construction, and roads andmonuments throughout the rolling farmland where once the sides fought are beingrefurbished. More than 6,000 military buffs are expected to re-enact individualskirmishes.
While the battle ended two centuries ago, however, hard feelings have endured.Memories are long here, and not everyone here shares Britain’s enthusiasm forcelebrating Napoleon’s defeat.
Every year, in districts of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, there arefetes to honor Napoleon, according to Count Georges Jacobs de Hagen, aprominent Belgian industrialist and chairman of a committee responsible forrestoring Hougoumont. “Napoleon, for these people, was very popular,” Mr.Jacobs, 73, said over coffee. “That is why, still today, there are some enemiesof the project.”
Belgium,of course, did not exist in 1815. Its Dutch-speaking regions were part of theKingdom of the Netherlands, while the French-speaking portion had beenincorporated into the French Empire. Among French speakers, Mr. Jacobs said,Napoleon had a “huge influence — the administration, the Code Napoléon,” orreform of the legal system. While Dutch-speaking Belgians fought underWellington, French speakers fought with Napoleon.
That distaste on the part of modern-day French speakers crystallized in resistanceto a British proposal that, as part of the restoration of Hougoumont, amemorial be raised to the British soldiers who died defending its narrow NorthGate at a critical moment on June 18, 1815, when Wellington carried the day.“Every discussion in the committee was filled with high sensitivity,” Mr.Jacobs recalled. “I said, ‘This is a condition for the help of the British,’ sothe North Gate won the battle, and we got the monument.”
If Belgium was reluctant to get involved, France was at firsttotally uninterested. “They told us, ‘We don’t want to take part in this Britishtriumphalism,’ ” said Countess Nathalie du Parc Locmaria, a writer andpublicist who is president of a committee representing four townships that ownthe land where the battle raged. As in the case of the North Gate memorial, however, persistence paid off.
Prince Charles Napoleon, 62, a French politician and direct descendant of Jerome Napoleon — Bonaparte’s brother, who also fought at Waterloo — agreed to join aceremony on the first of four days of events, to shake hands with the eighthDuke of Wellington, the 98-year-old head of his family, and Prince Blücher vonWahlstatt, a direct descendant of the field marshal who commanded Prussianforces in the battle. The French ambassador to Belgium was won over as anhonorary member of the organizing committee.
Now the North Gate is but a wire mesh enclosure in a rambling brick and stone wall,though its wooden doors — the famed “chestnut barrier” — will be reconstructedexactly as they were when French and British troops fought furiously forcontrol, which meant also control of the farm buildings. Eventually, after bloody, hand-to-hand combat, the Britishtroops managed to shut the doors, ultimately breaking Napoleon’s advance andensuring Wellington’s victory. Next to them, the controversial Britishmemorial, a dark marble copy of the gate, will arise.
The word triumphal, or variations thereof, comes up frequently in discussions here,but the Britons involved vigorously deny having entertained a singletriumphalist thought.
“In no way will this be Anglocentric or triumphalist in any way,” said MichaelMitchell, an aircraft consultant who volunteers as secretary of the organizingcommittee. “We never talk about a celebration, but a commemoration,” said Mr.Mitchell, the son of a British father and Belgian mother whose ancestor Col.Hugh Mitchell fought on Wellington’s right flank. “Many brave men died,” he said. “All the belligerents played an incredibly impressive role.”
If the temptation to triumphalism did exist on the British side, it would be odd,since most of the soldiers who fought under Wellington were not British. Thoughhe commanded 25,000 English, Scottish and Irish regulars, his force alsoconsisted of 26,000 Germans and 17,000 Dutch, while Field Marshal Blüchermustered 50,000 Prussian troops.
For Germany, the events are welcome. Next year, commemorations will mark the 100thanniversary of the outbreak of World War I, but unlike that war the Napoleonicwars are not something the Germans may feel they have to apologize for.Margaret Pollmeier, a spokeswoman for the German Embassy in Brussels, said inan e-mail that “in any event, the embassy plans to participate in thecommemoration on June 18, 2015.” Since 2011, the German ambassador has been anhonorary member of the Hougoumont committee; his military attaché hopes torestore some or all of four memorials to German units on the battlefield.
Over the centuries, the Wellington family has taken a keen interest in thebattlefield. The present duke, said Mr. Mitchell, “in fine family tradition,takes, I won’t say a proprietary, but a close eye on the battlefields.” Severaltimes, most recently in 1973, the duke intervened successfully when the localauthorities planned to extend a superhighway across the battlefields.
In 2000, a group of Belgian taxpayers brought suit, demanding that the governmentrescind an agreement dating back to just after the battle under which the Dukeof Wellington was given the rights to 2,600 acres around the battlefield. Thelands were bringing in about $160,000 annually for the Wellington family, andthe taxpayers argued it was time to end the arrangement. The case stagnateduntil 2009, when the finance minister, Didier Reynders, told Parliament thatthe government had no intention of backing out of its commitment, which wasanchored in the 1839 Treaty of London guaranteeing the independence of Belgium.
Of course, if the Wellingtons continue to benefit from the lands, so do thecommunities around Waterloo. In good years about 300,000 people visit thebattlefield, though recently the number has fallen as word of the restorationwork got out. Clearly, the organizers hope that the farm’s revival and the newvisitor center will raise the numbers, perhaps as high as 500,000 a year. Indiscussions, organizers frequently mention Gettysburg, which attracts more thantwo million people a year.
But the economy is only part of the picture. “Our concern is the experience of thevisitor,” Ms. Du Parc said. “What is the message? What is the legacy, whatpurpose does it serve?” She contrasted the Napoleonic wars with World War I,which was followed only two decades later by an even greater war.
Mr.Jacobs agreed. “Still today, you find Belgians on both sides,” he said, “butthanks to the British this foolish Napoleonic experience was brought to an end.It changed the history of Europe.”
“It brought a hundred years of peace,” he said.
http://club.topsage.com/thread-3759518-1-1.html
WATERLOO,Belgium — The region around this Belgian city is busily preparing tocommemorate the 200th anniversary in 2015 of one of the major battles inEuropean military history. But weaving a path through the preparations isproving almost as tricky as making one’s way across the battlefield was backthen, when the Duke of Wellington, as commander of an international alliance offorces, crushed Napoleon.
A rambling though dilapidated farmstead called Hougoumont, which was crucial to thebattle’s outcome, is being painstakingly restored as an educational center.Nearby, an underground visitor center is under construction, and roads andmonuments throughout the rolling farmland where once the sides fought are beingrefurbished. More than 6,000 military buffs are expected to re-enact individualskirmishes.
While the battle ended two centuries ago, however, hard feelings have endured.Memories are long here, and not everyone here shares Britain’s enthusiasm forcelebrating Napoleon’s defeat.
Every year, in districts of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, there arefetes to honor Napoleon, according to Count Georges Jacobs de Hagen, aprominent Belgian industrialist and chairman of a committee responsible forrestoring Hougoumont. “Napoleon, for these people, was very popular,” Mr.Jacobs, 73, said over coffee. “That is why, still today, there are some enemiesof the project.”
Belgium,of course, did not exist in 1815. Its Dutch-speaking regions were part of theKingdom of the Netherlands, while the French-speaking portion had beenincorporated into the French Empire. Among French speakers, Mr. Jacobs said,Napoleon had a “huge influence — the administration, the Code Napoléon,” orreform of the legal system. While Dutch-speaking Belgians fought underWellington, French speakers fought with Napoleon.
That distaste on the part of modern-day French speakers crystallized in resistanceto a British proposal that, as part of the restoration of Hougoumont, amemorial be raised to the British soldiers who died defending its narrow NorthGate at a critical moment on June 18, 1815, when Wellington carried the day.“Every discussion in the committee was filled with high sensitivity,” Mr.Jacobs recalled. “I said, ‘This is a condition for the help of the British,’ sothe North Gate won the battle, and we got the monument.”
If Belgium was reluctant to get involved, France was at firsttotally uninterested. “They told us, ‘We don’t want to take part in this Britishtriumphalism,’ ” said Countess Nathalie du Parc Locmaria, a writer andpublicist who is president of a committee representing four townships that ownthe land where the battle raged. As in the case of the North Gate memorial, however, persistence paid off.
Prince Charles Napoleon, 62, a French politician and direct descendant of Jerome Napoleon — Bonaparte’s brother, who also fought at Waterloo — agreed to join aceremony on the first of four days of events, to shake hands with the eighthDuke of Wellington, the 98-year-old head of his family, and Prince Blücher vonWahlstatt, a direct descendant of the field marshal who commanded Prussianforces in the battle. The French ambassador to Belgium was won over as anhonorary member of the organizing committee.
Now the North Gate is but a wire mesh enclosure in a rambling brick and stone wall,though its wooden doors — the famed “chestnut barrier” — will be reconstructedexactly as they were when French and British troops fought furiously forcontrol, which meant also control of the farm buildings. Eventually, after bloody, hand-to-hand combat, the Britishtroops managed to shut the doors, ultimately breaking Napoleon’s advance andensuring Wellington’s victory. Next to them, the controversial Britishmemorial, a dark marble copy of the gate, will arise.
The word triumphal, or variations thereof, comes up frequently in discussions here,but the Britons involved vigorously deny having entertained a singletriumphalist thought.
“In no way will this be Anglocentric or triumphalist in any way,” said MichaelMitchell, an aircraft consultant who volunteers as secretary of the organizingcommittee. “We never talk about a celebration, but a commemoration,” said Mr.Mitchell, the son of a British father and Belgian mother whose ancestor Col.Hugh Mitchell fought on Wellington’s right flank. “Many brave men died,” he said. “All the belligerents played an incredibly impressive role.”
If the temptation to triumphalism did exist on the British side, it would be odd,since most of the soldiers who fought under Wellington were not British. Thoughhe commanded 25,000 English, Scottish and Irish regulars, his force alsoconsisted of 26,000 Germans and 17,000 Dutch, while Field Marshal Blüchermustered 50,000 Prussian troops.
For Germany, the events are welcome. Next year, commemorations will mark the 100thanniversary of the outbreak of World War I, but unlike that war the Napoleonicwars are not something the Germans may feel they have to apologize for.Margaret Pollmeier, a spokeswoman for the German Embassy in Brussels, said inan e-mail that “in any event, the embassy plans to participate in thecommemoration on June 18, 2015.” Since 2011, the German ambassador has been anhonorary member of the Hougoumont committee; his military attaché hopes torestore some or all of four memorials to German units on the battlefield.
Over the centuries, the Wellington family has taken a keen interest in thebattlefield. The present duke, said Mr. Mitchell, “in fine family tradition,takes, I won’t say a proprietary, but a close eye on the battlefields.” Severaltimes, most recently in 1973, the duke intervened successfully when the localauthorities planned to extend a superhighway across the battlefields.
In 2000, a group of Belgian taxpayers brought suit, demanding that the governmentrescind an agreement dating back to just after the battle under which the Dukeof Wellington was given the rights to 2,600 acres around the battlefield. Thelands were bringing in about $160,000 annually for the Wellington family, andthe taxpayers argued it was time to end the arrangement. The case stagnateduntil 2009, when the finance minister, Didier Reynders, told Parliament thatthe government had no intention of backing out of its commitment, which wasanchored in the 1839 Treaty of London guaranteeing the independence of Belgium.
Of course, if the Wellingtons continue to benefit from the lands, so do thecommunities around Waterloo. In good years about 300,000 people visit thebattlefield, though recently the number has fallen as word of the restorationwork got out. Clearly, the organizers hope that the farm’s revival and the newvisitor center will raise the numbers, perhaps as high as 500,000 a year. Indiscussions, organizers frequently mention Gettysburg, which attracts more thantwo million people a year.
But the economy is only part of the picture. “Our concern is the experience of thevisitor,” Ms. Du Parc said. “What is the message? What is the legacy, whatpurpose does it serve?” She contrasted the Napoleonic wars with World War I,which was followed only two decades later by an even greater war.
Mr.Jacobs agreed. “Still today, you find Belgians on both sides,” he said, “butthanks to the British this foolish Napoleonic experience was brought to an end.It changed the history of Europe.”
“It brought a hundred years of peace,” he said.